Board of Directors Meeting 9-30-20

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By: Mary Williams | APBA Secretary | Oct 8, 2020

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

September 30, 2020

1. The meeting was called to order at 8:30 PM by President Chris Fairchild.

2. Roll call was taken. Those in attendance were: Chris Fairchild, Adam Allen, Brent Walbrun, Mary Williams, Kyle Bahl, Fred Hauenstein, Jean Mackay-Schwartz, Abby Pond, Jan Shaw, Wilson, Matt Yarno, Aaron Stephens, Mark Wheeler, Bob Wartinger, Jack Meyer, Jeff Conant, Patrick Gleason, Rachel Warnock Rich Fuchslin, Dutch Squires, Kristi Ellison, Bill Gohr, Jeff Brewster, Rich Luhrs, Robin Shane, John Krebs, Pete Nichols, Richard Shaw, Jeff Titus, Tom Johnston, Bill Pavlick, Ken Scoville, David Hale, Becca Nichols, Ann Fitzgerald, Lisa Jennings, and special guests Katelyn Shaw, Kurt Romberg, Don Allen, Kip Brown, and Ernie Dawe. Excused was Sherron Winer.

3. Motion by Matt Yarno to approve the minutes from the June 15, 2020, as presented. Seconded by Jean Mackay-Schwartz. The motion passed unanimously.

4. Motion by Jean Mackay-Schwartz, seconded by Bob Wilson to approve the email vote of the board for races held on the weekend of Oct

31-Nov 1. Motion passed unanimously.

5. Motion by Aaron Stephens, seconded by Jan Shaw to approve bylaw changes as presented:

a. Bylaw 6.1.1 Annual Association Meeting for the Conduct of Business. Add a new second sentence to read: “The national annual meeting may be conducted face-to-face, via telephone, or via video conferencing.” Modify the third sentence to read: “For face-to-face meetings, the Board of Directors…….”

b. Bylaw 6.4.2 Board of Directors Meetings. Add a new third sentence: “Each member may vote by teleconference telephone or electronic communications, after receiving the notice and explanation in writing or oral presentation.”

c. Bylaw 6.2.1 Association Meetings. Add a last sentence to read: “The Board of Directors or Committees may hold meetings in person, via telephone, or video conferencing.

d. Bylaw 6.2.2 Board of Directors Meetings. Add a last sentence to read: “The Board of Directors or Committees may hold meetings in person, via telephone, or video conferencing.

e. Change the Heading on Bylaw 6.1.7 to read “Meetings by Telephone or Video Conferencing”

Motion passed unanimously.

6. Motion by Jan Shaw, seconded by Matt Yarno to approve a bylaw change as presented. A new Bylaw 12.7.4 to read “Any survey or poll of the members and/or committees or commissions established by a category regarding a rule exception that will be presented to the Board of Directors must be administered by the APBA Headquarters.” Current Bylaw 12.7.4 shall be renumbered as 12.7.5. After discussion on the purpose of the bylaw and several suggested word changes, there was a motion by Kyle Bahl, seconded by Jan Shaw to table the action. Motion was tabled.

7. Motion by Aaron Stephens, seconded by Mark Wheeler to approve a new Bylaw 1.4.a to read “Any and all promotional material for an APBA Sanctioned Event must include the official APBA logo in a highly, visible primary location.” Discussion was held on providing style guides or templates for club use. Motion passed unanimously.

8. President Fairchild presented a housekeeping change on APBA Safety Rule 28, which had been voted on by email ballot of the Board of Directors. The rule should read: No crew member may be on a race boat while it is in the water under power unless an emergency requires assistance. Failure to comply with this rule will result with the driver earning two yellow cards.

9. President Fairchild also presented a housekeeping change to General Safety Rule 29 which was to clarify a radius rule for turn fins. After discussion, President Fairchild sent this rule to a committee composed of Bob Wartinger, Mark Wheeler, Kurt Romberg, and Jeff Brewster for rework. The rule will stay as currently written for now.

10. Revised 2020 and 2021 budgets were presented followed by a brief discussion. Discussion on the fundraiser initiated by Buddy Byers was also held. It was felt that this would make 2021 figures somewhat better than the presented figures. In answer to a question as to what the fund-raising money would be used for, the Board agreed that these funds would be used to help APBA come back from COVID strong and be able to get up and running at full services when racing resumes on a regular basis. A question was asked if the committees and commissions were being asked to donate some of their excess funds to this fundraiser. President Fairchild stated that this was not the current plan, by the deadline, it might be looked at. He also expressed that any donation to this matching fundraiser is not tax-deductible.

11. A discussion was held by the Board on the idea of selling the current building. Concerns mentioned were the need to maintain a physical presence in Michigan; worry about a clearly declining neighborhood around the current building; having a plan for needed storage; the idea of remote working for employees versus leasing office space; safety of employees arriving and leaving work; and suggestions were received on several museums that might be interested in acquiring some of our history. Motion by Kyle Bahl, seconded by Adam Allen to sell the building. A roll call vote was taken. Voting in favor of selling were: Adam Allen, Kyle Bahl, Fred Hauenstein, Jean Mackay-Schwartz, Abby Pond, Bob Wilson, and Mark Wheeler. Voting against selling were: Jan Shaw, Matt Yarno, and Aaron Stephens. Motion passed 7 in favor, 3 against. President Fairchild said he will get together with a realtor and get the Board a high-end number before proceeding.

12. President Fairchild gave a national meeting update. Orlando, FL has changed from 2021 to 2022. We are still under discussion with Seattle to hopefully move the meeting to a new location and back a year to 2023. Orlando is scheduled for 2023 but discussion is being held on moving the meeting back to 2024. Our 2021 meetings will all be held using Zoom. Becca Nichols is working on the plan for this.

13. There were no new ideas for income.

14. Other Matters:

a. Bob Wartinger reported that COVID plans for races are improving. He wanted to thank Becca Nichols for her help in getting the clubs the information they need to do the plans.

b. Bob Wartinger also reported that Incident reports are flowing to the commissions. He reported that since 1999 we have had a decline in exposure due to less members and races but no decrease in the number of incidents reported.

c. Bob also mentioned there are loopholes in the cockpit registration requirements and he is working to tighten this up with the commissions.

d. Jeff Brewster presented a request to extend officials’ testing approval for the 2021 season. Becca Nichols reported that the scorers are already approved thru the 2021 season as they only test every other year. Motion by Jean Mackay-Schwartz, seconded by Matt Yarno to extend the Inspectors, Risk Managers, and Referees test approvals for the 2021 season. Motion passed unanimously.

e. Jeff Titus asked if cockpit testing could be extended also. Motion by Jean Mackay-Schwartz seconded by Matt Yarno, to extend current cockpit approvals to 2021. Motion passed unanimously.

15. There being no further business, a motion was made by Fred Hauenstein to adjourn, seconded by Jan Shaw.

16. The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary Williams

APBA Secretary

Meeting Minutes 9-30-20

Download meeting minutes here